Website Name

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Gala Day: Gateshead Civic Centre, Saturday November 19th

Mairi Hedderwick, illustrator and captivating storyteller, is best known for her Katie Morag children’s stories. The first of the Katie Morag books, Katie Morag Delivers the Mail was published in 1984 and, to Mairi’s surprise, was taken up as an excellent example of non-sexist children’s fiction, mainly because of the tractor-fixing, dungaree-wearing Grannie. ‘I wasn’t thinking of that at all. I’m used to women driving tractors; I did it regularly myself whilst living on the island’. But Grannie became a central character of the books, and the inspiration for her second book, Katie Morag and the Two Grandmothers.

The content for most of the Katie Morag books is loosely based on Mairi’s own experiences: Katie’s toys are those of her own children, Granny Island’s Rayburn stove was Mairi’s own, and the episode where Katie Morag throws her teddy into the sea is something Mairi admits doing herself – twice! As an adult!

Katie Morag and The Birthdays Bodley Head ISBN:0370328507	Katie Morag's Island Stories Red Fox ISBN:0099438569	Katie Morag Delivers the Mail Red Fox ISBN:0099220725

There are now a number of Katie Morag stories available including; Katie Morag and the New Pier; Katie Morag and the Wedding; Katie Morag and the Grand Concert; The Second Katie Morag Storybook, Katie Morag and the Riddles and Katie Morag’s Rainy Day Book, a bumper collection of activities, puzzles and things to make and do. More Katie Morag Island Stories, published in March 2004 is available now in paperback.

Mairi’s latest book, Katie Morag and the Birthdays, was published in March 2005. This is a brand new gift book which sees every character on the island celebrate their birthday!

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South Tyneside (8th), Sunderland (9th), Middlesbrough (10th)

A poet and singer/songwriter who also writes children's books. She has been delighting audiences at festivals around the country with her colourful and quirky performances of the 'Poetree' - a magical copper tree whose fruit are the most strange and wonderful imaginable.

Pick something off the tree and listen to the song, story or poem it inspires. Dip your hand in the 'Handbag Happiness' and help to write a poem for the tree - watch it be miraculously turned in to a song.

Publisher
Chrysalis

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North Tyneside (16th), Stockton (17th)

Website
www.keith-gray.com

31-year-old Keith was born and brought up in Grimsby and knew from an early age that he wanted to be a writer. When he received 0% for his accountancy exams he decided to pursue his dream.

He has since gone on to win the Angus Book Award and the silver medal in the Smarties Prize. He has twice been shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the Booktrust Teen Prize and the Scottish Arts Council Book Award. Rave reviews about his writing have appeared in every broadsheet.

The Runner Young Corgi 0440866561	Creepers Red Fox 0099475642
Malarkey Red Fox 0099439441	Happy Red Fox 0099439522

Keith was a judge for the Blue Peter Book Award, the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Kathleen Fiedler Award. He has just been asked to judge next year's Booktrust Teen Prize.

He was recently interviewed on Radio 4 with Jacqueline Wilson about writing for teens, was featured on Live and Kicking, and his novel The Warehouse has been optioned for television. Keith is now a full-time writer living in Edinburgh.

Publisher
Random House Children's Books

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North Tyneside (7th), Gateshead (8th)

Alan Temperley is a Geordie who left grammar school at sixteen and joined the Merchant Navy. He has sailed as deck officer, trawlerman and able seaman. After undistinguished National Service in the RAF, he studied at Manchester and Edinburgh Universities and went to teach English in the northern Highlands. This remains his spiritual home.

His first published work was poetry and short stories, for both of which he won national competitions. They have appeared in many anthologies.

Harry and the Treasure of Eddie Carver Scholastic 0439964008	Harry and the Wrinklies Scholastic 0439978378
Ragboy Scholastic 0439978297	The Brave Whale Scholastic 0439978858

His first book was TALES OF THE NORTH COAST (1977), a collection of oral tales from remote Sutherland which is still in print. It was followed by TALES OF GALLOWAY (1979) and MURDO'S WAR (1988), an award-winning teenage novel. In 1997 his children's story HARRY AND THE WRINKLIES was published. It was shortlisted for the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year and the Hachette Jeunesse edition won the Prix Chronos in 2001. It has also been made into a popular television series. Subsequent titles are RAGBOY, HUNTRESS OF THE SEA and THE BRAVE WHALE, all published by Scholastic Children's Books. An Arabian Nights style story, THE MAGICIAN OF SAMARKAND, was published by Macmillan at the beginning of 2003. HARRY AND THE TREASURE OF EDDIE CARVER, a sequel to HARRY AND THE WRINKLIES, will be published by Scholastic in 2004.

Alan lives in Hamilton, Scotland and enjoys English beer, Scottish country dancing, British wildlife and any day without rain.

Publisher
Scholastic

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Sunderland (16th), North Tyneside (17th)

On the Web
www.helena-pielichaty.com

Helena Pielichaty (pronounced Pierre-li-hatty) was born in Stockholm, Sweden and moved to England when she was five. Her writing career started at the age of eleven when the Yorkshire Post published her poem, Litter, hailed, as Helena puts it, 'as a literary triumph by my grandma'.

Helena's writing career was then put on hold for twenty years while she did other things, such as working in a toffee factory, training to be a teacher, having two babies and watching football. She began writing for children towards the end of the last century.

Helena writes books which strike a wonderful balance between humour and sensitivity. She is never afraid to address difficult issues such as homelessness - Vicious Circle - , mental illness - Jade's Story - and bullying - Getting Rid of Karenna. Helena draws her characters with such applomb that these books should be a must read for all younger adults. Also take a look at Helena's hilarious Never Ever.

Alex's Back Oxford University Press ISBN:0192753797	Brody's Back Oxford University Press ISBN: 0192753789	Clubbing Together Oxford University Press ISBN:0192754300

Oxford also publishes Helena Pielichaty's Simone series. The series began with the bestselling Simone's Letters, a collection of funny and often touching letters charting Simone Wibberley's final year at primary school. This was followed by Simone's Diary where we join Simone in her first year of secondary school. Last, but not least, came Simone's Website, where the school project is to design a new web page for the school.

Publisher
Oxford Children's Books

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Hartlepool (15th), Redcar (16th)

As a child
I don't remember a time when I wasn't utterly besotted with animals. I spent all my time before I went to school, in the garden with my lovely Grandpa (who was small and round and had all sorts of things in his cardigan pockets) looking at flowers, and ants and bird's nests. My parents moved around quite a lot so I was always the new girl in school, which meant I spent a lot of time on my own reading and thinking... still my two favourite recreational activities. What finally saved me at school was that I learnt to make people laugh. But I was still always, mostly myself alone, out in the fields in Suffolk where my parents then lived, walking my dog and listening to the skylarks.

Ice Bear Walker Books ISBN:1844287319	Poo Walker Books ISBN: 1844287513	Surprising Sharks Walker Books ISBN:1844284581

As an adult
I did a zoology degree and went on to study various animals in the wild; bats, geese, whales... Then I went to work at the BBC Natural History Unit, first as a researcher and later a presenter on The Really Wild Show. TV was fun for a while, but I really hated the pressure. The good thing about it was that it allowed me to earn money, and still have time for my kids when they were little. I've loved being a mum, absolutely adored it. Some of my happiest memories are of reading my kids books I loved as a child - books like the Lord of the Rings. I can still make my daughter squeal by doing my 'Gollum' voice!

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Newcastle (17th), Middlesbrough (18th), GALA DAY (19th Gateshead Civic Centre)

Karate princesses, seasick pirates and demon vacuum cleaners...where else could these characters spring from but the playground that is the quirky imagination of Jeremy Strong?

THE BASICS
Born: Eltham, South East London, November 18th 1949
Jobs: Head Teacher, Teacher, Caretaker, Strawberry Picker,
Jam Doughnut Stuffer (yes, really!)
Lives: Somerset
First book: Smith's Tail, 1978

THE BOOKS
Jeremy Strong's work is characterised by humour and direct child appeal. He thinks his writing has been influenced most of all by Spike Milligan, but also by falling on his head when he was three years old. He was not allowed to read comics as a child, and consequently discovered The Beano at the formative age of sixteen. Jeremy Strong's ideas come from everywhere - his childhood, his children, over-hearing conversations, something he sees - and he constantly makes notes.

Pirate School: Bun Gun Puffin Books 0141319267	Stuff Puffin Books 0141319038	The Beak Speaks Puffin Books 0141315733

WHAT HE SAYS...
"My sense of humour got stuck at age ten."

"When I was about eighteen I started writing very serious stories for adults, but none of them was published. By the time I was twenty-one I was writing stories for children and I quickly realised that I loved writing funny stories and making people laugh."

"I have no axes to grind, and no neuroses to reveal. (At least, I don't think I have. You may think otherwise.)"

AWARDS:
The Children's Book Award 1997 for The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog
The Sheffield Children’s Book Award 1998 (Shorter Novel category) for Pirate Pandemonium
The Sheffield Children’s Book Award 2000 (Shorter Novel category) Highly Commended for Dinosaur Pox

Publisher
Puffin

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Redcar (14th)

Lucy Lethbridge is a freelance journalist and literary editor of The Tablet.

She has written three books for the Short Books WHO WAS series Ada Lovelace, Computer Wizard of Victorian England, Annie Oakley Sharpshooter of the Wild West and Saint Francis of Assisi The Patron Saint of Animals.

Ada Lovelace Short Books 1904095763	St Francis of Assisi Short Books 1904977170	Annie Oakley Short Books 1904095607

Ada Lovelace Computer Wizard of Victorian England won the Blue Peter Book Award for Best Book with Facts 2002. Lucy was a Blue Peter judge in 2004 and also a judge on the Short Books The Times Great Young Historians competition.

She lives in Camden, London.

Publisher
Short Books